Will Of Peter Gaffney Of Great Marlow 1543

Says that he is sick.

Bequeaths his soul to God, the Lady Saint Mary and the Holy Company Of Heaven.

Wants to be buried in the chapel dedicated to Mary at Marlow church.

Money to the church of .....y and to the high (altar?) of the church at Great Marlow.

? pence to each of his godchildren.

Money for the repair of the high road and of the bridge at Marlow. 

Twenty shillings a year to be distributed amongst the poor of Great Marlow for a term of twenty years.

To Joane ... (illegible)

To Elizabeth Woodward the wife of John Woodward 10 shillings.

To Sybil Dignam 10 shillings.

To Alice Mathewe the wife of John Mathewe. 10 shillings.

To John Rowlande the elder my best gown and ...years rent free.

Money for soupe? to be distributed to the poor.

Money for poor of "Cokhym" [presumably Cookham], Bisham, Little Marlow and Medmenham.

To Joan Carter ....

To Elizabeth Woodward 20...[another Elizabeth Woodward?]

To Thomas Dignam the house I now dwell in, and it's backsides. After the life of Thomas it is to go to Thomas's heirs of the blood.

To Thomas Powndie 20...

To Toucher Spencer, Henry Spencer, and Thomas Spencer sons of Richard Spencer deceased 5 houses each, seemingly linked to the giving of the gift of money to the poor of Marlow for 20 years. Toucher Spencer can have the five best houses for his park(!?) Thomas Spencer has the next choice, then Henry Spencer. [I'm sure it says houses not horses, and other records speak of a house specifically inherited by Thomas Spencer though the will of Peter Gaffney]

The house where John Redyng [Redding] dwells to remain to the heirs of Richard Spencer.

Residue of estate I think to John Powndie  who is made executor. Estate is to be spent in ways that benefit the soul of the testator at the discretion of John. Other executor is to be Richard Pemerton who is left 20 marks.

Signed and sealed by Peter Gaffney. No other witnesses.

Probate: Power to execute granted to Richard Pemerton.

Original will is at the National Archives, Kew.

Note:

Peter Gaffney appears on the tax list for Marlow in 1524 as one of the top 5 wealthiest residents. One of this name was a bargeman in 1508 but this could be an older relative with the same name as Peter of this will was a woodmonger. The two occupations are not mutually exclusive however as wood would have been transported by barge. Peter could have transported other goods as a paid service amongst his wood cargoes. 

A Richard "Spence" and a John Rowlande are also on the taxpayer list but were much less wealthy. Citation = The Urban Experience: A Sourcebook : English, Scottish, and Welsh Towns, 1450-1700. Kiribati, Manchester University Press, 1983.

Toucher Spencer and his brothers were cousins to Peter Gaffney. In the 1540s Toucher was a yeoman and lived in Watford. Thomas Spencer lived in Marlow High Street on the West side in the same period.

In 1584 Tucher Spencer alias Richard Spencer a "clerk" (clergyman) of Bristol and son of Richard Spencer of Marlow left a house in Marlow that had once been the house of Peter Gaffney and which had been left to Tucher in Peter's will to his daughter Anne. This was not the house left in Peter's will to Thomas Dignam but a different Marlow house which Peter had once lived in. Another Marlow house Tutcher owned was left to his other daughter Elizabeth. This house was formerly that of his father Richard and was the house in which Tucher was born. Other houses inherited from Peter in Marlow were split between the daughters. These included a disputed house which Tutcher insisted he had bought from Thomas Dignam (the one in Peter's will) but which Thomas's son Mathew refused to give up.

A John Mathewe was an innkeeper in Marlow later in the 1570s.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use my transcription summary for local or family history purposes with credit to this blog.

Life in 1500s Marlow

The 1500s Town -

The very earliest reference to a named street in Marlow that I have found is the will of Robert Sands of Harleyford, proved 1509, in which the testator left his daughter Jane a house and plot in Oxford Lane, now called Oxford Road. West Street is mentioned in 1574 and a little later we hear of "Hawkins Lane" leading to Hawkins Farm. We know too that the High Street, Dean Street, Spittal Street, Chapel Street, St Peter Street (and what we now call Station Road leading to it), Old Pound Lane and the part of Pound Lane which connects old Pound Lane to the High Street all existed in the 1500s though not necessarily under those names in all cases. In the first few years of the 1600s Quoiting Square (as Quoiting Place) and Potlands are mentioned and it is safe to assume that they were also present in the 1500s. The Potlands (note not "Portlands" as today) area included a footpath down to the river and church. This is now known as Portland Alley. It has been speculated that this might have been an actual roadway in the even more distant past. Similarly the idea of an old roadway connecting Spittal Street at around the site of the Cross Keys to St Peter's Street has been floated. In the 1610s we find mention of the Medmenham Highway (now Henley Road), Dedmere Highway (Dedmere Road) and Gun Lane (now Trinity Road). All were likely also present in the late 1500s at least.

The Danger of Smoke Free Homes..

In the collaborative Hollinshed's Chronicle of England, Scotland and Ireland published in 1577 writer William Harrison wrote that there had been recently a huge increase in domestic building in England. "Never so much oke hath been spent in a hundred years before as in ten years of our time, for everie man almost is a builder, and he that hath bought any small parcel of ground, be it ever so little, will not be quiet till he have pulled downe the old house if anie were there standing, and set up a new after his own device" As well as the new cottages and houses springing up there was much expansion and alteration to the older style homes of the rich. 

The population of England had grown considerably, doubling since the 1510s, so the need for new properties was obvious. It is likely therefore that the footprint of Marlow grew during the Elizabethan era and that individual streets became more crowded with buildings.

The building boom led to a nationwide shortage of timber by the end of the 1500s. Brick and stone buildings were both now commonly used for homes for the better off but wood was still needed for them. According to architectural historian Nickolaus Pevesner the hall of the Old Parsonage in St Peter Street Marlow was constructed the previous century if not earlier, of chalk with stone windows which shows another option that 1500s housebuilders of Marlow may also have used. There was a chalk pit up at Harleyford by the 1550s. The origin of the Old Parsonage is not certainly known.

The raising of the oak frame of a timber framed house occured once the frame had been left to season for a while by the carpenter who crafted it. The raising must have been a significant job, and probably involved helpers other than the householder and carpenter's workmen as it was common to have a little feast, drink distribution and celebration on the day of the raising, which sounds like a community thankyou. 

If you think of a timber framed building of the 1500s you probably picture a black and white or black wood and brick structure but according to the authors of The Cottage Homes of England this blackening of the wood was often done artificially in the 1800s, and Tudor woodwork would have been left naturally greyish most of the time. I have seen elsewhere however reports of house frames being "burnt" before use which implies possible deliberate darkening of the wood. Perhaps it was down to individual choice.

Only a few people had glass windows, the rest had holes in the wall, covered by translucent cloth. Floors downstairs in humble cottages were often of compacted earth. These were skillfully laid and not quite the equivalent of kicking around in the mud as you might imagine. Don't worry though, with unpaved streets 1500s Marlovians had plenty of opportunity to squelch their way about the town following any rainfall.

Chimneys had become common by the mid Elizabethan era, and indeed fancy chimneys, were a status symbol. Poorer people still made do by and large with a hole in the roof to allow the escape of smoke. Some household smoke was thought to cure and strengthen the timber used in the construction, and even to make the inhabitants healthier! It also smoked any cheese or meat hung from the beams and rafters of the house. For this reason the clearing of the air in the home caused by new efficient chimneys was regretted by more than a few people, including William Harrison. He couldn't believe the amount of coughing, choking and rheumatism caused by living in a smoke free home!

Smoke would have deterred domestic flies but it doesn't seem that mice found it too off-putting. Though keeping cats as mousers was common, an attitude of resignation as to living with some mice had to prevail. There were as yet no daddy long legs spiders in English homes however. They cadged a lift on ships from warmer climbs a century later.

A surge in home furnishings also occurred in the homes of all but the poorest (but remember that they made up the majority of the English population). William Harrison wrote that inferior artisans and mean farmers (his description!) "have for the most part learned also to garnish their cupboards with plate, their beds with tapestries and silke hangings, and their tables with carpets and fine naperie".

All household items cost far more in real terms than they do today so that items that we would not consider special were seen as worth singling out as gifts for loved ones and friends in wills. Reynold Shirwood of Marlow who left his will in 1528 as well as his valuable pewter bequeathed tablecloths and napkins. His wife Margaret mentioned napkins too and even a towel alongside her more obviously valuable amber beads, ring, girdle and raw cash.

The poorest people lived in cottages with one or two room downstairs, often with sleeping compartments reached by ladder above them. A yeoman family usually had more rooms downstairs, and might have a fully floored upper storey for sleeping, though that was still reached by ladder not a staircase. It is presumed that any people who could not manage ladders would bed themselves down on the lower floors. Most beds were straw filled pallets. Homeowners could expect beds with frames on which hangings for warmth and privacy could be attached, but other family members in the same household were not always so lucky. Servants did not expect any covering on their beds beyond an over sheet, and maybe not even that.

William, Lord Paget had Great Marlow Manor by grant from Queen Mary in 1554. The manor had been in Crown hands since early in the reign of Henry 8th. Tucher Bold had Harleyford Manor Marlow from 1516. In 1542 he got a license to have a preacher there to officiate worship as his home was so far from the parish church in Marlow. William Lord Paget ended up holding both Harleyford and Great Marlow. The other Marlow manors of the day were Semers or Seymours and Widmere. John, Lord Russell occupied Widmere from 1571. Earlier it was held successively by the Widmere family, the Knight Templars and Knight Hospitallers. 

Little Marlow Manor was in the hands of the abbess of the priory there, until of course the Dissolution.

Commercial life

Marlow is known to have had multiple inns and the like during the 1500s. The Upper Crown existed by 1596 (where Boots is now). Shopkeepers usually served customers from their homes. Marlow for generations had had two fairs a year which provided additional retail opportunities, as did the weekly market. In later times this market focused on meat sales but there is no reason to think it was not a general market in the 1500s.

Self-sufficiency was key for most people rather than commercial consumption. A cottage's garden was the medicine chest, perfumery, and culinary flavouring resource for it's residents. Some would keep bees for honey. It is often said that honey was the only sweetener available in England before the arrival of sugar but that is not strictly true. Sweet birch sap, and pollen from various flowers were available. Sucking the sweet young flowers of white dead nettles was the 1500s version of sucking a lollypop for the kids. Linden tree blossom could also be sucked as a sweet and made into a floral-scented tea. The roots and leaves of angelica plants, cultivated in gardens, also sweetened dishes.

The Bridge 

There had been a bridge crossing the Thames at Marlow since at least the late 1200s. It is presumed that the bridge of 1500s Marlow and earlier stood at the bottom of St Peter Street, as the new bridge constructed in the 1780s certainly did. Davy Shirwood / Sherwood left money for the repair of Marlow Bridge in his 1524 will. Historically the people of Marlow seem to have been pretty poor at maintaining the structure despite our bridge trustees having multiple pieces of land in their hands to rent out and thus gain income for necessary repairs. 

The People

While most people were not too far ranging during their lifetime it shouldn't be presumed that all the residents of the town in the 1500s were from ancient Marlow families. Not many of the last names of 1500s Marlovians were names that had been present in the 1400s and vice versa, implying plenty of population movement, even if it was only to and from the wider local area. A 1524 tax list for the town shows us one resident had come much further away - Henry Conrade the Dutchman. He'd be subject as a foreigner to additional tax. His occupation isn't known though quite a few Dutch and Flemish iron workers came to England at this time. I have some in my own family, though they set up in the Sussex Weald, a known iron making area, rather than Buckinghamshire. 

The countryside

It is an open question as to how native the beech woods of South Buckinghamshire are. What we see today may be largely the result of human manipulation due to the needs of the later furniture trade. That's not to say that beech trees are not native to England, or that the woods around Marlow did not anciently contain beeches. It is thought however that the woods started out as a mix of beech and other native species, most of which were slowly removed by humans so that mixed woodland became beech dominant woodland.  Whatever woods there were would have been used as foraging spots for Marlow's free ranging domestic pigs by those residents who had pannage rights.

Work

Agricultural labouring would have occupied the majority of men, and women also worked on the land as a matter of routine. Marlow wills suggest that sheep were the predominant livestock kept in the town. Married couple Margaret and Reynold Shirwood who died within days of each other, probably from a contagious illness, in 1528 mention in their wills growing barley and wheat. They were clearly doing well as Margaret specified that her farm cart is a horse cart. Horses were expensive and the use of oxen was more usual. She also talked of the ploughs and harrows that she possessed in plural terms, so we know that she and Reynold could make use of at least two teams of workers at once when it came to ploughing and harrowing.

Farms known to have existed in the 1500s are: Blounts, Seymour Court Farm then just known as Seymours or Seymers and presumably part of the lost manor of Seymers, Hawkins Farm, and in Little Marlow Monkton Farm. Most of what we now consider Marlow would have been only farmland. Large swathes of land, were kept as common fields and divided into strips for individual holders. This system would continue for many years after the 1500s.

Field boundaries where they existed historically in England were mostly banks and ditches with a hedge of hawthorn atop the bank. Hawthorn known then as quickthorn or maythorn was chosen as it makes such a good animal barrier. Hedgerows were also strategically planted at intervals with those trees whose leaves provided extra fodder for livestock (cows love young lime leaves and other trees have foliage that can be dried and used for animals in the winter), or berries and hazelnuts for humans. 

Even those who had other trades frequently farmed some land as well. 

I published a reconstructed 1500s trade directory on the blog last year which can be read here. As you will see from that post I found multiple men in Marlow occupied as bargemen, butchers, carpenters, innkeepers (who were often brewers too or at least their wives were), shoemakers and weavers. We also found one off individuals who were bakers, blacksmiths, drapers, glove makers, millwrights, and wood merchants. Obviously we can recover traces of the occupations of only a fraction of Marlow people during this time. Commercial fisherman on the Thames at Marlow are known earlier and later so we can safely presume they existed in the 1500s. 

Servants in grand houses such as the manors were usually male with the exception of laundresses and dairy maids. Only less well off families employed female servants (who were cheaper but carried no distinction). The male and female employees of farming families were routinely referred to as servants despite spending much of or all of their day out working on the land rather than in tasks we would associate with "servants". The word servant also referred to trade apprentices and shop assistants.

Young boys were sent out to fulfill apprenticeships as far afield as London if the example of young Peter Russell of Marlow apprenticed in 1512 is anything to go by.

Religion

The All Saints of the 1500s (not the church we see today) seems to have had a chapel dedicated to Saint Mary and probably still had an altar sacred to Saint Anne as it had done back in 1495 when Radulph Carter wrote his will and mentioned it. When chantry chapels were shut down by Henry 8th the one at Marlow was worth £8 13 shillings and 4 pence. The chantry priest then was a Sir James Grai (Grey, Gray, one of the most common last names in 1500s Marlow, probably in fact the most common).

The church warden accounts of the late 1500s show that the church bells, the ringing apparatus and the clock (vital for the town as virtually no one had any timepiece at home) required constant expenditure. A visit by Elizabeth 1st to Bisham caused one of the bells to be hastily mended in order for her to be saluted. Well you didn't want to upset Queen Lizzie did you? The church bells in the late 1500s were routinely rung at the anniversary of her coronation and on St Hugh's Day. I know what you're thinking- Saint who? Hugh's not well known today but he was once Bishop of Lincoln and Lincoln was the mother church of Marlow. Wills of 1500s Marlovians often mention gifts to the mother church as well as to Marlow church itself. Hugh's feast day was in November. He was the patron saint of amongst other things sick children, and appropriately for Marlow, swans. His pet swan at Lincoln had guarded him while he slept and followed him everywhere he went. 

Above, medieval St Hugh. Public domain image.

In 1595 some players were paid by the church to "play" in the "church loft" the location of which isn't certainly known. Presumably these were performing a religious play for the townspeople. The payment was made in May, the traditional time for Mummers plays. As well as the Church Loft there was also an unplaced "church house" in Marlow. Church lofts are referenced elsewhere, including at West Wycombe, where it was a separate building (and still exists). The phrase could also refer to the musicians' gallery common to churches then and which was usually sited above the rood screen. Plays could be performed on such galleries.

The churchwardens had custody of a set of morris dancing costumes. They were willing to let other parishes borrow these. What morris dancing, rooted as it was in pagan pre-Christian rituals, was thought to have to do with the work of the church is anyone's guess. May Day or midsummer celebrations were the main times for Morris dancing in Tudor England. 

Talking of unusual articles kept in a church, in some earlier Tudor parishes a communal plough was stored there ready for anyone to borrow but there is no evidence of this occurring in Marlow church.

At Little Marlow stood a church dedicated to St John and a small, moated Benedictine priory dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The priory was home to five to six nuns at a time. Margaret Vernun, prioress at the time of the Dissolution, received a transfer to the famous abbey of Malling in Kent, which would have been a significant promotion- albeit a short lived one as that was also forced to close just a couple of years later. The priory site at Little Marlow was given briefly to Bisham Abbey then leased to Elizabeth Restwold and John Titley. Elizabeth was already leasing some of the Priory's other lands when the nuns first left.

Margaret Vernun's origin is unknown but she was clearly from a wealthy family, most prioresses were. Before being based at Little Marlow she had served at St Albans. Margaret was a friend of Thomas Cromwell, to whom she wrote many times. How they met is unknown but the friendship was genuine. She kept and educated his son Gregory at her priory, and it appears Thomas visited her socially at Little Marlow. She and her other nuns had also gone to dine with him and invited him to Little Marlow in return. Entertaining one of the King's senior ministers was perfectly acceptable for a cloistered woman. Nuns in this era don't generally seem to have been as closed off from the world of men as we might suppose, indeed it wasn't an option for any prioress or abbess to live that way. They were landlords and administrators of the finances of their institution, ladies of business. The priory held lands not only in Little Marlow, but at various times also at Great Marlow, Hambledon, High Wycombe, Penn, Taplow, Wendover, Colebrook, Weston Turville, Beaconsfield and Benfield in Berkshire. At one point Margaret borrowed money from Cromwell in order to buy some extra land for the priory which she knew she could quickly turn a profit on. 

The nuns of course had a live-in male chaplain for mass and confession. In 1835 Margaret paid him £5 6 shillings 8d a year. At least one priest engaged by Margaret for her nuns at Little Marlow brought with him his own pupil which he had previously been engaged to educate. It was the norm for parish priests to supplement their incomes by taking in pupils so it is likely that the priest at All Saints church in Marlow had his own little "school" too. No other known educational provision existed in 1500s Marlow.

The taking in of both male and female residential pupils was also very common for 1500s priories. Cromwell junior had left Margaret not long before the Dissolution but Margaret was hoping towards the end of the Priory's life to negotiate the arrival of new residential pupil, a little girl that she had heard of as staying in Bisham. Margaret hoped that if she came the girl would be a comfort to Margaret in her "old age". We know she had had multiple pupils at St Albans and pupils before Gregory Cromwell at Little Marlow too. Such children came from well off families and it is presumed those families paid well for the privilege. A male teacher was provided by his father for Gregory Cromwell at the Little Marlow Priory with Margaret supervising his work. Another little boy shared his lessons. The bringing in of outside teachers seems to have been the usual way of serving the pupils in priories.

As well as her income from pupils and land rentals Margaret raised money by selling wood. The priory owned 8 acres of woodland. Her priory was also entitled to offerings from a chapel at Colebrook, for unknown reasons.

Margaret's distress at the impending loss of her Little Marlow home was poured out in her letters. She pleaded with Cromwell to do what he could for her and her fellow nuns. He secured her the Malling post.When Malling too stood on the brink she again wrote asking to be allowed to sell one of the manors belonging to Malling to fund either a one off lump sum retirement payment or ongoing pensions for her nuns. There was only so much Cromwell could do. In the end the manor sell off was not allowed to take place but Margaret did manage to secure a £40 a year pension for herself.

The closure of Little Marlow happened over several months. First the king's men came to assess whether any nuns aged under 24 were present and if so to declare them no longer nuns. The state didn't want young people starting out in the cloistered life. Margaret had 3 such women and the day they were ordered out she lost most of her community. A few months later the priory was shut entirely and Margaret and her last remaining colleague left. Four servants and a priest lost their places along with the nuns.

Before the Dissolution Henry 8th happily allowed the persecution of the growing number of Protestants in the country who were challenging Catholic beliefs. Marlow did not escape these persecutions. At some point between 1518 and 1521 John Gardiner of Marlow reported his own sister Agnes, by marriage Agnes Ward, also of Marlow for blasphemous (as in Protestant) beliefs. He also pointed the finger at a slew of other Marlovians at the same time, including Reynold Shirwood we heard of earlier in this post. There were clearly other snitches and spies about- poor John "Simonnds" and his wife (probably the same woman as Mrs John "Simon" above) were on a separate occasion charged with having a book of the Gospels written in English. This was a great crime as it implied you were exploring your faith yourself rather than relying on the interpretation from Latin of your approved local priest. Another time John and Isabel Gardiner of Marlow -the same John?- had to be forced to swear to the fact that they had heard Thomas Rave (perhaps Reeve) of Marlow say that pilgrimages were worthless and chapels dedicated to the saints pointless. Rave was already in trouble having been ordered to go to the Bishop of Lincoln to do penance for an unknown religious offence. Whilst in Lincoln he disrupted mass and was clearly unrepentant. The Bishop got rid of him to finish his penance in High Wycombe, unsuccessfully. The fate of the other accused Marlovians is not known to me.

Both Margaret and Reynold Shirwood, and other 1500s residents asked to be buried in the churchyard of Marlow. Burial inside the church itself required deep pockets. The Shirwoods could have afforded it but some people thought expensive memorials an example of sinful pride so would not ask for them regardless. Outside graves were not typically permanently marked in this era. 

Written and researched by Charlotte Day.

©Marlow Ancestors.

Selected Sources=

The Urban Experience: A Sourcebook : English, Scottish, and Welsh Towns, 1450-1700. Kiribati, Manchester University Press, 1983.

Copy of returns of vintners, innkeepers and alehousekeepers 1577 Bucks Archives ref=

D-X423/1 bucks archives

The Cottage Homes of England by Helen Allingham and Stewart D-ck 1909 published by Edward Arnold, London (population increase).

The Holinshed Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland Volume 1, compiled by Raphael Hollinshed for the Stationers Company, 1577, London.

History and Topography of Buckinghamshire by James Joseph Sheahan, published by Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts, 1862.

Many wills including those of Thomas Bevington, Reynold Shirwood, Margaret Shirwood, David Shirwood, Robert Sands. All are at the National Archives.

The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe by John Foxe, revised edition published by Seeley's of London 1856.

Home Counties Magazine article by Miss E.M Walford  (quoting bridge land property records from 1617) https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Home_Counties_Magazine.html?id=_HIaAQAAIAAJ#v=onepage&q=Marlow%20%22high%20street%22&f=false 1899 published by F.E Robinson. Volume one.

Records of Buckinghamshire Volume 5 compiled by James Pickburn 1878 for Buckinghamshire Architectural and Archaeological Society, Aylesbury. Via Google Books. 

Peter Russell of Marlow apprenticeship https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5522927

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_of_Lincoln

Account of the Nunnery of Little Marlow by Walter De Gray Birch, published in Records Of Buckinghamshire Volume 4, 1871. Via the Archaeology Data Service https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/details.xhtml?recordId=3254649&recordType=Journal

Reading and Writing during the Dissolution: Monks, Friars and Nuns  1530-58 by Mary C. Earlier. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Memorials of the Danvers Family (of Dauntsey and Culworth) by Francis Nottidge Macnamara published by Hardy and Page 1895, London. Via Google Books.

Historic England record for Little Marlow Priory https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archsearch/record?titleId=1036080

Lovelace vs unknown Six Clerks Office National Archives ref=

C 1/1306/53

Willett Grave Bisham

In loving memory of Elizabeth wife of Edmund Willett, died February 12th 1890 aged 44 years. Also of William Willett...(weathered lettering)

Photographed 2020 by Charlotte Day.

Notes:

Ada Willett the daughter of Edmund and Elizabeth was the assistant mistress of Bisham School prior to her marriage.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to reuse this image with credit to this blog.

Young Grave Bisham

 

"In loving memory of Adeline Blanche wife of Thomas Young who died November 19th 1922 aged 52. Also of Thomas Young who died May 18th 1932 in his 70th year"

Photo and transcription by Charlotte Day 2021.

©Marlow Ancestors. Reproduction very welcome with credit to this blog.

Ellis Grave and Research Bisham

 This grave is at All Saints, Bisham. 

In loving memory of Mary the beloved wife of Arthur John Ellis. Entered into rest September 17 1913 aged 37 years.

Also to Ethel Alice Ellis. I couldn't read the line that followed her name. But see notes below:

Notes by Charlotte:

Mary was nee Currell.

Ethel Alice was the daughter of Mary and Arthur. She was aged 1 on the 1901 census and was a schoolgirl in 1911.

Arthur John Ellis of Bisham nephew of the above Arthur John Ellis died in France in 1930 after falling into a waterfall at the Gorges de Loup. He was one of a party of sailors from the Royal Navy ship Revenge having a day out together. He was 21 at the time and climbed onto some railings so that his friends could get a dramatic picture of him to send to his sweetheart in London. Unfortunately he overbalanced and fell in.

Arthur John Ellis senior, husband of the Mary on the grave was a Bisham special constable, a carpenter and a wheelwright. The 1911 census states he worked in the capacity of carpenter at a paper mill. This may have been at Marlow.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to reuse this image and research for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog. Census information remains Crown Copyright.

Will Summary John Rolls Proved 1857

 John Rolls of Great Marlow, coal and timber merchant. Written 1854. Proved 1857. See codicil below too. I found this will quite hard to read. I have done my best but recommend you obtain your own copy from the National Archives if this will is particularly important to your family.

Wants just debts and funeral expenses paid.

John Rolls Hoare and Thomas Rolls Hoare sons of my sister Ann Hoare 1 shilling each to mark my ....e of their....

My brother and I occupy a freehold property at the foot of Marlow Bridge in the parish of Bisham Berkshire which formerly belonged to our father. It comprises grounds, warehouses, ....., a meadow and gardens bounded in the North by the River Thames, and in the East by the Compleat Angler's Inn and in the South partly by the road to the Compleat Angler's Inn and partly by the old road called Bisham Lane and in the West by Church Meadow or land belonging to ...Davenport Esq. This property is being used by the brothers in their joint business partnership as coal and timber merchants. This all to my brother's use for his life, him keeping the buildings in good repair. Afterwards estate to go to Reverend Green of Shepton M...w in Gloucestershire who was the son of Mary Green who used to live in Great Marlow and his heirs. If he has none then estate to Osmund Rolls Green another son of Mary Green. If Osmund has not disposed of the said property in his life or in a will and has no legal heirs then property to the eldest of my bothers or sisters then living.

Dial Cottage on the Causeway which is in the occupation of Frederick Berger under a lease assigned by me to Robert Collins is willed to "the said" John Green (the Revd?). If John has no heirs, and has not disposed of it in his lifetime or by a will then to Osmund Rolls Green and his heirs. If he too has no heirs and has not disposed of the property in his lifetime or by way of a will then property to the eldest then living brother or sister of mine.

£10 each to brothers Thomas, Charles and George Rolls. Thomas's is in addition to what he is left as a thank you for being an executor of the will.

Sisters Ann, wife of John Hoare, and Jane Rolls £10 each.

£10 to be equally distributed between the sons and daughters of my bargeman Thomas Sparkes late of the Barge Pole pub. [More on Thomas here]

Executors £10 each as thank you.

My residual estate to the said John Green with one moiety of it left to Osmund Rolls Green.

Executors brother Thomas, John Green as above, Osmund Rolls Green as above, Edward Mason of Thames Side Windsor, coal merchant.

Witnessed by MJ Rippingham Great Palson Street London and Charles Tompkins of 20 Colet Road, Commercial Road, East London.

CODICIL. WRITTEN 1855.

John Green my gold ring and the rest of my jewellery to Osmond Rolls Green.

The legacy given to the children of Thomas Sparkes to be divided equally between John and Osmond above.

Codicil witnessed by Ralph Spicer*, solicitor of Great Marlow, and William Weaver, clerk to Mr Spicer.

The will was proved by three executors only. Edward Mason had renounced his role as executor.

Transcribed and summarized here by Charlotte Day from the original will at the National Archives, Kew.

*biographical post on Ralph Spicer here

©Marlow Ancestors.

War Dead Congregational Church

The Imperial War Museum has transcribed the memorial to the members of the Congregational Church (as it was then called) in Quoiting Square Marlow who fought in the First World War.  The transcribed names are listed below and I have added some research into those young men.

Bartlett, Gilbert

Batting, Horace

Grove, William B

Keates, Ronald

Loaring, William J

Peddle, Alfred 

Plumridge, Albert E

Robinson, William

Smith, Henry J

Research:

Gilbert Bartlett. Son of Mrs and Noah Bartlett. Born 1891. His dad ran a grocer's shop in West Street overlooking Quoiting Square. I believe Gilbert is also memorialised in the WW 1 memorial in Sir William Borlase School, which he certainly attended. He had emigrated to South Africa by the time the war started and was thus serving in the South African infantry when he died in 1916. More about his parents in this post where you can find a picture of their premises as they are today.

Horace Batting. Born Horace John Batting 1897 to Charlotte and John Batting. Dad was a gardener. He himself was a grocer's assistant. Lived York Road as a small child. As a 13 year old Herbert was soloist in the Congregational Church's choir. Lance Corporal in the Royal Fusiliers. Died 29th April 1917. On the war memorial at Arras. Parents had previously suffered the loss of their 3 year old daughter Gertrude.

William B Grove. Born 1897 to George and Emma Grove. Lived 1901 Cambridge Place, Cambridge Road. Died 1915. Kings Royal Rife Corps. Featured on the Menin Gate memorial. Dad George worked on the river as a boat building labourer, waterman and a steam launch driver as well as being an amateur rower.

Ronald Keates. In full Ronald Sidney Keates. Born 1895 to Anne and James. Grew up West Street Marlow. Age 10 won a prize in Marlow Horticultural Show 1905 for a bunch of wildflowers he had picked. I know it is a minor thing to mention but the image of the child Ronald wandering peacefully in the fields enjoying the flowers struck a chord with me when I read it considering what he would later live through. Private in the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry. Before the war he was a clerk. His father James was a builder's foreman, elected parish constable and town councillor.

William J Loaring. Private in the Royal Fusiliers 13th Battalion. Killed 4th August 1917 by a sniper. Included on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres. Employed at Morgan's the drapers in the High Street before the war. The Morgans were also Congregational Church members. To see an historic photo of the premises where William worked or to read more about the Morgan family see my post here

Alfred Peddle. Born 1894 to Alfred and Helen Peddle.

Above, grave of Alfred Harry Peddle. Killed In Action in France March 2nd 1917 age 22. Of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.  Grave is in Marlow Cemetery. He is buried with his parents who lived in York Road at the time of his death. He was a plumber.

Albert E Plumridge. Albert Ernest. Born 1881 in Bisham. Did not die until some years after the war. It may have been considered that his military service caused his death nevertheless. He was badly gassed in 1917 and was sent home to hospital in Stourbridge England. Albert was a worker at Temple Mills before becoming a motor launch driver on the river. He lived at Bisham with his wife Edith (née Finch) at first before moving to West End Gardens Marlow. These houses still exist but are not now known under that name. They are in Henley Road Marlow. Albert had been a regular player for Bisham football team as a teen / young adult, sometimes serving as the Vice Captain. I think he may also have been a rower.

William Robinson. Possibly born 1885 to Alice and William Robinson.

Henry J Smith. The town's main war memorial gives the name H.W Smith which was Henry William, who may be a relative. Henry J was a Private in the Buck's Battalion.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

For detailed posts on Marlow in WW1 see Kathryn's Posts 1914  1915  1916  1917  1918 and 1919

For more church related content see the Church Related option on the menu. There are also A-Z Person Indexes, Graves  and Wills options on the menu.

Sources Include:

Transcription of the memorial is ©WMR-8379. Imperial War Museum. Available on a Creative Commons BY-NC licence. 

Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Details of memorials on the continent and dates of death.

Bucks Herald 25th August 1917. Copy held at the British Library archives. Accessed March 2021 via the BNA.

South Bucks Standard 23rd December 1910. As above.

Reading Mercury 25th August 1917.

1891 and 1901 Census transcribed from microfilm images by me.

World War One Service Records 1914-20 database online. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBG-1V55 WO 363. National Archives, Kew.

War Memorial All Saints Church, Marlow (commemorates all denominations).

Written and researched by Charlotte Day. 

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to reuse our research if you link here so that the sources listed above remain credited for the information they provided.

The Bell Ringing Beer Selling Bargeman

 Today's subject is the multi talented George Creswell (Cresswell), an imposing figure who could be found striding the streets of the town in the regency and Victorian period. If you wandered into the beautifully thatched Swan Inn in the Causeway, you may have heard licenced victualler George bending the ear of his drinkers on the subject of how the river and barging industry had changed. Going to the river itself, you may have seen George accompanying some eager anglers out on the water or perhaps you would spot him and brother William with their barge, also known as the Swan, starting out for London. Or perhaps you can see an particularly tall and well built parish constable guiding a miscreant to the parish lock up? That's George too.  Hear church bells ringing? George again. He's one of the ringers. You get the idea. 

There are many George Creswells to be found in the pages of Marlow history but our subject is the one born in 1808 to William and Ann of the riverside Complete Angler inn as we call it. His parents turned the somewhat ramshackle cottage conversion into an inn with a far ranging reputation for hospitality and fishing facilities. As such it attracted gentleman visitors from London, willing to rough it a little, and business boomed. The couple have their own dedicated entry here. 

Suffice to say George and his siblings grew up on the banks of the river. As a young man he worked as a fisherman, which in Thames terms of the time, meant someone who guided anglers out to find the best hunting grounds. The most sought after fisherman had their services in such high demand by visitors that their services were hard to acquire. George had the advantage of a steady stream of customers from the family inn. The two brothers would eventually lease extensive fishing rights between Bisham and Cookham Bridge. His father also maintained an interest in timber and coal dealing, and running the barges that carried goods up and down the river. George would also take up this role. 

At some point, he and brother William began to run the Swan barge on the river. Those described as "running a barge" sometimes owned it, often leased it, and sometimes were those captaining it up the river themselves. George and William seem to have combined the latter two roles at the beginning. As time went on, they did less work on the barges themselves, and more was left to employees. Although George was ultimately very successful in the barge industry, he certainly suffered some setbacks. Both his father and brother William were generally regarded as very shrewd businessman and definite misers. (You can read more about that infamous brother William, scourge of all in authority, here ) George it would seem was less one to frantically count his pennies, or perhaps he was unlucky. For in 1829, he found himself banged up in the notorious Whitecross Street debtors prison in London...

Debtors Prison 

Whitecross Street was used solely for the reception of debtors and it had arguably a worse reputation than the others so used. Sarcastically known as the "Cripplegate Coffee-House", it was often described as over crowded. The debtor's were housed in wards rather than individual rooms, men and woman apart. He is described as a fisherman formerly of Marlow at the time of his incarceration - "formerly" does not mean he had moved to London however. He is imprisoned at Whitecross because the action was taken relating to debts owed to someone operating in London or Middlesex who took a civil action against him there. I can't be sure how much he owed, but if a creditor insisted on it even someone owing a relatively small amount could find themselves behind bars at this time. And they were liable to stay there until the debt was paid, which may of course mean an indefinite stay. George's time however does not seem to have been long..perhaps his family stepped in and helped straighten his affairs. 

Happily, 1829 was not an entirely bad year for our subject. The Berkshire Chronicle of April announced the marriage of George Cresswell of Great Marlow to "Miss Bowles" of the same place. (Elizabeth). The Bowles were a very old and widespread Marlow family, one of the few to be present continuously from the Tudor period onwards and very likely before that too. The Bowles and Cresswell families were in charge of a large number of Victorian inns and beer houses at different times. 

By 1833 George and Elizabeth were living in the High Street. Their home was assessed at £10 for tax purposes so it was a reasonable size. Around now, George was one of the bell ringers at the old parish church*. In fact when that building was demolished, and replaced with a new one, George was one of the "first ringers". That is he was one of those who rang the bells for the first time in the new church in February 1835, a little time after it was completed. On the 60th anniversary of that occasion, the bells were rung again in honour of these early ringers all of whom had since passed away.  

The Swan Inn

Sometime between 1834 and 1839, George became the proprietor of the Swan Inn. Now demolished, this was a very old thatched building standing where the vicarage is now. It's proximity to the river means it's presumed to have had many bargeman amongst it's clientele although there were several beer houses on the river front itself around Church Passage and St Peters Street. And bargeman could be found drinking in any of Marlow's very very many houses of refreshment! However despite barge men having a somewhat fearsome reputation (often embellished later it must be said) events at the Swan rarely generated the sort of traffic to the Petty Sessions that many other licenced premises did. Was there a sort of self policing going on? Maybe, but George was regarded as running a respectable establishment in general. He in fact took a turn as parish constable on more than one occasion. Someone associated with crime would not get voted to this role. (You can find more about how parish constables worked in Marlow here) 

George's address in the 1840s is several times given as Sundial Cottage. It was the neighbouring property to the Swan, famed for the historic sun dial on an adjacent outer wall. Licenced victuallers were required to live in their premises but it seems George was also using the cottage and this was regarded as sufficiently the same. 

In 1845 wife Elizabeth died with such swiftness that expressions of sympathy were forthcoming from all quarters. She was "hale and hearty" one morning but was taken ill in the night. Surgeon Wilkinson attended but declared her life must be despaired of and she never recovered. Inflammation of the throat was considered the cause of death. George, with a young family,  would go on to marry a second time, to widow Charlotte of Bisham. 

George was the last landlord of The Swan. I'm not sure exactly when he chose to leave it but it was sometime between summer 1861 and December 1863 when the premises is described as uninhabited.  The site was ear marked for a new rectory by the Rev Milman who had many church improvement plans in mind. The Rev left the parish before most were realised but he did see the completion of his new home the year before his departure.  So The Swan and all its history was demolished in the 1860s. George and family moved just a short distance away to Brook(s) Street (now Station Rd). 

Farmer George, Timber Merchant

George primarily used his barge for transporting wood as time passed, as he was increasingly focusing on his timber dealing business. This developed into a substantial affair and by 1851 he employed 9 men. Timber lying at a wharf or in a yard was a frequent subject of thefts locally as it was relatively valuable. For example in 1856 20 year old John Stacey was sentenced to 3 months in jail for stealing some wood from George. He plead guilty and a previous conviction for theft increased his sentence. George also owned timber wagons which made the journey between Marlow and High Wycombe, centre of the chair making industry. 

In 1875 a man working for George was drowned in the Thames. James Rockell** had had charge of the horses towing the barge. When it stopped for the night in Staines, the crew went for food and drink in the town. A rowing boat was used to reach the spot where the barge was moored. James returned separately from the others but sadly his rowing boat was over turned in the dark. His fellow crew had already retired for the night and knew nothing of the tragedy. His body was found the following day. At least that is one version of events. Another later story says that the other crew had deliberately set a wonky gang plank up as a practical joke knowing James would use it last. He did and fell to his death. George had ceased to travel on the barge himself in those days. But he must have trusted James a good deal as the latter had worked for him since the age of 15, over 30 years it was said. 

 George knew all about his dangerous the river could be. He served on coroner's juries for the drowned and personally recovered at least one body from the water at Marlow. This was the badly decomposed remains of 73 year old George Joell, a Berkshire farm labourer of "unsound mind" who had been missing for 6 weeks. George collected a 20 shilling reward which had been posted for news of his whereabouts.

 He continued also to work as a coal merchant. He had however always had a farming interest. Even in the 1830s he was leasing farm land at Red Pits. Subsequently he would add to this holding with land at Lower Field farm (formerly part of the Great Marlow Common Fields, some of it purchased freehold by George in 1849 but still subject to common rights), "Merefield Common" (Marefield common field) and at Hill Farm amongst others. The Creswell Row cottages off Queens Road were built on his land. They were known as Cresswell's Cottages at first, although the family later owned many in the nearby area to which this term can also apply.

Goodbye George

George died aged 71 in 1879. He was still working as a farmer and timber merchant to the end. His beloved Swan Inn was fast becoming just a memory and many of the riverside properties around it were also demolished. The working river was increasingly making money out of tourists and houseboats rather than barges transporting goods. His death must have felt like the end of an era to many. 

The second Mrs Creswell, Charlotte lived to the age of 91, dying at the home of her daughter in law in 1898, Swilley Cottage, Little Marlow Road. She was said to have been as "sharp as a tack" in her old age. Her last illness was brief. She suddenly became blind 3 days before her death. She nevertheless apparently retained a healthy appetite to the end and died peacefully at the last. Of the couple's 4 children, only eldest son farmer and dairyman Augustus was still alive. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

**Sadly the widow of James Rockell would loose her second husband to drowning too - George Picton whose boat overturned while he was working for the Thames Conservancy in the 1890s. Two of the crew members of James' barge both drowned in separate incidents in the months after his death. You can read more about the rest of Mrs Rockell/Picton's sad life in a post here

More information:

Read about George's run in with a character known as Buffer the Hatch  - here

List of publicans at The Swan: here

A tribute to our bargeman - challenging the stereotypes here

Pub index: here

To find every mention of a person or family here use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu. You'll find over 6,000 people listed there.  

Posts about everyday life for your ancestor in old Great Marlow: here

Sources include:

1833 Parish Assessment, transcribed by me from the original held by my family 

Undated letters and workings related to the above c 1834. 

Robson's Directory 1839

Slater's Commercial Directory 1852

Kelly's Directory 1847 & 1869

Dutton's Directory 1863

Bicester Herald 7 March 1879.

Berkshire Chronicle 4 April 1829, May 3 1845. 

Reading Mercury 29 March 1829, 26 May 1855.

Bucks Herald 15 May 1875, 12 Jan 1879. 

Bucks Advertiser 03 March 1849 & 25 January 1879

South Bucks Standard - January 14 1898. 

Great Marlow census returns as transcribed from microfilm by Jane Pullinger. 

Creswell family research by Charlotte. 

© MarlowAncestors. 

Kenton House Marlow

 Kenton House is given historically usually in Victoria Road but also sometimes in Glade Road suggesting it had entrances in both roads. It was close to Kenton Villas in Glade Road, two pairs of two houses built,nlike Kenton House, for Frederick Joseph Wright. It was a detached house with a garden, paddock (later an orchard), stable and stable yard. 

In 1883 Mrs Rolls was the resident. During the 1890s the house was often sub let for the summer season. This was a common thing to do for Glade Road area residents. IThe road was near the railway station and within walking distance of the Thames. Just the ticket for those who wanted to enjoy a fashionable riverside holiday!

Whoever had been the recent tenant in 1905 had perhaps just died as the house contents was put up for auction then.

By 1907 Major Francis Fowler, his mother Gertrude and siblings lived at Kenton House. Mrs Fowler was the widow of Major General Charles Fowler who had died the previous year. In 1908 her youngest daughter May who was known by her middle name Irene drowned while punting on the Thames at Bisham. Punting was a very popular Edwardian past time on the river. Irene was an acknowledged expert on the art of managing a punt but the river on that stretch claimed casualties every single year. Irene had hired her punt from Shaws boat house in Marlow in windy but not not inadvisable weather conditions. She overbalanced while trying to free her punting pole from a tangle of weeds. Two small boy raised the alarm that a woman was in the water and trying to swim but the men who rushed to her aid could not find Irene. Her body was later recovered.

She was a musical woman as well as an active one training the choir of St Peter's Catholic church in Marlow and participating in charity concerts.

The same year Irene died Kenton House was put up for sale following the death of Eleanor Wright, widow of Frederick. The property was then worth £60 a year rent. Whoever bought the house, Major Francis Fowler's tenancy was unaffected. He seems to have been away from home in 1911 as on the census that year the Eddowes family occupied Kenton House.

He was back in residence in 1913 however when the house was again put up for sale. By then his yearly rent had soared to £85 which was pretty pricey. According to The Peerage website Gertrude Fowler died in Florence Italy in 1913.

To find more content on the historic residents of Victoria Road or Glade Road see this index.

All mentions of someone on this blog can be found under the Person Index.

Sources Included:

Kellys Post Office Directory for Bucks 1908. Kelly's Directories Limited.

GRO death registrations.

South Bucks Standard 14th July 1905, 4th September 1908 and 9th October 1908. British Library Archives, via the BNA.

https://thepeerage.com/p38900.htm#i388995

David Millard Will (Brief!) and Notes

 David Millard, yeoman. Written 1825. Proved 1831. See note below.

Everything to wife Sarah including the property they live in [testator's estate not detailed any further]. 

Sarah sole executor.

Witnessed by George Cole and George Daniels.

Will transcribed and summarised by Charlotte Day. You can obtain a copy of this PCC will from the National Archives.

Notes: There must have been some delay in proving the will as David was buried in Marlow aged 56 in 1826. He had married Sarah Gray at Marlow in 1791. He was baptised at Bisham in 1769 the son of James and Winifred.

David had Sarah had the following children:

Ann 1791 (buried 1793)

Ann 1794

Mary Ann 1796

Jane 1799 (buried 1810)

Elizabeth 1802

James 1806

David 1809 (buried 1810)

There does not look to be a remarriage or burial for Sarah at Marlow.

Will witness George Daniels was a cabinet maker who lived Chapel Street. George Cole ran a school in Chapel Street. A biographical post on him will be published in the future.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use this content for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.

Burrell Research and Graves Great Marlow

See "Research" at the bottom of this page to read more about these people and how they connect to each other.

Above - Harriet, wife of Thomas Burrell d. Feb 20 18(..4?) age 40, name Thomas is inscribed below but the other details too worn to read.

Above, another grave. Thomas Burrell. Smith of this town, d. Sept 9th 1776 age 48

ALSO OF

Elizabeth his wife d. Feb 16 1799 age 67 years. 

Above, John Burrell, d. Sept 30th 1819 age 52

"Under this stone here lies a stone living with GOD above/ built on the rock was such a one/ whom force nor ...   could move/Near this place lay the remains of ..

Thomas Burrell d. Oct 8th 1818 age 57 years. 

John Burrell as above. Another view of same.

HB 1850, TB 1860, ?B 186?

AB 1829, WJB 1865

 Above, Sarah Burrell died Mar 1st 1825 age 65 years.

Research:

Harriet Burrell née Badger married blacksmith and ironmonger Thomas Burrell at Bisham in 1833. They lived, and Thomas worked, in premises on the East side of the High Street, Marlow by what is now Institute Road corner. That year his premises consisted of his house ,"shop" as in workshop, garden and an "iron house" and was worth an estimated £10 a year. Thomas was baptised at Little Marlow in 1801 to Thomas and Alice Burrell. His family was however of Great Marlow origin. Harriet died between the 1841 and 51 censuses leaving behind several young children. Thomas's married sister Elizabeth East (married Charles East 1822) moved in with him to help look after the family. In 1841 Thomas inadvertently bought for 3 shillings some copper wire stolen from the cellars of James Bavin in Marlow by William Heather and George Perry. The thieves initially used the wire to poach game but having been seen by a gamekeeper and fleeing, they decided to sell the guilty wire to various Marlow business people instead. They were jailed but no summonses were sent to those who had innocently bought the wire. The family had had a much more shocking brush with the law in 1839 when that Charles East, husband of Elizabeth was found guilty of sheep stealing and transported. More on this case here.

 On a more positive note Thomas Burrell came to the rescue of one of the Marlow church bells which had developed a crack in 1849. An iron band was made for it in his High Street forge, and a man, perhaps Thomas himself, ran with the red hot ring to the church. There it was heated a little more in a temporary fire made in the bell fry before being successfully fitted and quenched with water. 

Thomas was the victim of a robbery himself in 1862 (Windsor and Eton Express 20th December 1862) during a town crime spree. Old coins and 45 shillings in current money were stolen from his premises, as discovered by his daughter upon her returning from church.

It is possible Thomas eventually took over the smithing and ironmongery business of his uncle John. 

The Thomas Burrell in the second grave photo (d 1776) was the grandfather of Thomas, husband of Harriett. His wife was Elizabeth (d 1799) who appears in a grave photo further down this page. The couple married at Great Marlow in 1757. Elizabeth was née Saunders. In her will written in 1794 she mentions her sisters Jane Saunders to whom she left £5 and Ann Cork, wife of John Cork whom she left £150 invested in stocks. A share she had in 3 cottages in Wooburn went to her son Thomas while son John got 2 sheets and 2 pillows. Her two daughters (unnamed but one was Sarah) got to share all her wearing apparel. All the rest of her money and property was to be equally divided between all her surviving children. Sons Thomas and John were made joint executors.

The John Burrell on the grave (d 1819) was also a blacksmith, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth. He left his stock in trade and business to his unmarried sister Sarah who also features in the graves above and in her mother's will.

John's will was witnessed by his close neighbour George Davis landlord of the Chequers, William Hatch the baker from across the road and attorney Robert Goldsmith. Executors of the will were John Mossenton the cordwainer (of Chapel Street) and Sarah the primary legatee.

The Thomas Burrell who died 1818 was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth, brother of John, and father of the Thomas who married Alice.

Alice is presumably the AB 1829 on the grave above as she definitely died that year.

The HB 1850 may be Harriet, daughter of Thomas and Harriet who was born circa 1838, and the T.B may be her brother Thomas born circa 1836.

Photos and grave transcriptions by Kathryn Day, research and will transcriptions by Charlotte Day.

More information:

To find all mentions of an individual here, use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu. New posts / people added daily. Over 4,000 people get a mention!

More grave photo posts for Marlow, Little Marlow and Hurley here

Will transcription posts listed here

Posts about everyday life in Marlow for the Burrells and others here including links to posts about specific trades, recreated trade and address directories etc. 

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this research for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.

Susanna Oxlade 1763 Will

 Susanna Oxlade widow of Great Marlow. Will proved 1763 but written back in January 1751 / 52 (the year then did not start in January).

Says she weak in body but of sound mind. She is making her will as she is mindful of her mortality.

Body to be buried at the discretion of her executor.

Son Jonathan Oxlade £5.

Daughter Susanna Hunt, wife of Hugh Hunt of Radnage £5.

Executor son Robert Oxlade of Bisham in Berks. He is to receive all the rest of her money, goods and chattels after her debts are paid.

Witnessed by Mary Cooke, Hannah Flight and William Hawes.

Transcribed and then summarised from a PCC will held at the National Archives, Kew by Charlotte Day.

For more wills see the Will Transcriptions index. All mentions of someone on this blog can be found on the Person Index. Several thousand people are mentioned.

Index for posts about every day life in old Great Marlow and Little Marlow see here

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use my transcription summary for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog.

Horror In Quarry Woods

 In a summer Sunday evening in 1840, 23 year old dressmaker Patience Martin and her younger  sister Maria decided to walk from their homes in Marlow to Cookham Dean, via Quarry Woods. It was a favourite place for a Sunday stroll and the young women had often made the journey. They were accompanied by their friend Harriet Clark. It should have been an enjoyable way to spend a beautiful evening, but the women could not have anticipated the horror that awaited them. 

 Patience was described as an especially beautiful young lady. She  worked at the baby linen warehouse, a not particularly well paid job. Unmarried, she lived with her parents John and Harriett and her sister Maria in Dean Street. They were not a well off family. John was working as a agricultural labourer at this time. 

  On arrival at Cookham Dean, the women walked across the common, before going into the beer house of Mr Copas. There they shared a pint between all three of them. This was a common thing to do, especially for woman.  They then walked to another pub on the common. On going inside they were greeted by three young Marlow men whom they knew. (Robert Moore, Thomas Eustace, and John Frane) All three worked for the Rolls family. Some rumours suggest that Moore was the "paramour" of Patience. Perhaps their meeting was not quite a coincidence, but it is only a rumour. Moore was married but living seperately from his wife who he said needed constant watching due to ill health - she was "subject to fits". The men invited Patience and her companions to take a little beer with them, they would then join the women for the journey back to Marlow. So far, so peaceful. 

As they left the beer house a short while later, at 9.30pm, they were accosted by 4 men. (Richard alias "Daisy" Smith, Henry Harding age 19, John Taylor 26 and William Bishop, 22, all described as labourers of Bisham). Bishop grabbed at Patience and suggested he would walk home with her. Patience naturally objected as she said he was some one she only knew by sight and had never had as much as a brief conversation with before. On this, Bishops companion Smith, who was clearly out to make a nuisance of himself, challenged Moore to a fight. Moore dismissed this request as he said Sunday was not "a proper day for fighting" and carried on walking, the others now a little way ahead. They were followed by the 4 troublemaker's, who again challenged Moore to a fight. Moore refused again, and was then knocked to the ground by Smith.  

Our party hurried on their way to Marlow but discovered a group of 20-25 men and some women blocking their path which lead from a lane off the common, over a stile and into Quarry Wood. This group were obviously just as much in a belligerent mood as the previous lot, and would not let Patience and the others pass. Patience said that at this point she was very frightened and wanted to retreat to the relative safety of one of the pubs they had left. But they could not get through the crowd in that direction either. After 15 minutes of insults and arguements, one of the gang said if Patience's party would shake his hand, they would be allowed to pass. This they wisely decided to do. But they had not got far into the woods when Smith, Harding, Bishop and Taylor ran after them. Harriet, Patience and Robert were all knocked to the ground by the thugs. Harriet got up quickly, aided by Eustace and it seems these two now ran off, leaving Patience and Robert in the rear. This is when things turned really ugly. Patience was the focus of the group's malevolence, perhaps in punishment for refusing the attention of Bishop. She was raped at knifepoint, first by Smith then by Harding with the others holding her down by the shoulders. Robert was punched to the ground at least three times while trying to rescue her. Harriet was screaming murder, and her cries were heard at Cookham Dean...but no one went to investigate them. Harriet heard the cries too, but Eustace told her to go on to Marlow and summon help. Robert knew he was outnumbered, and retreated a little distance to deal with a bloodied face. He then decided to try a trick of shouting loudly and pretending to be in a conversation with another as he went back towards Patience. He hoped the gang would assume he was part of a larger group and be frightened off. As it happened they had left by the time he came to her. He did his best to help the distraught Patience home, her bonnet ripped and shoes missing. As they left the woods, they must have hoped to have left their attackers behind them. But as they went to cross the meadows at Bisham, they were approached by a man who turned out to be Smith, although he had apparently made some attempt to disguise himself by swapping his jacket and speaking differently. Patience however recognised him and screamed. Smith was apparently insulted that Robert had knocked off his hat when the latter was attempting to rescue Patience, and wished to demand Robert's as a replacement!  Robert was yet again knocked to the floor, and Patience assaulted. Her screams this time were heard by a farm worker...who went home and put his horses away before investigating the source of the sound. Frane who was a carter, also put his horses away before returning.  As it was, Patience had got free and made it with Robert back towards Marlow, where they were finally met by Eustace and Frane who had returned to find Patience. These two men admitted to have feared being overwhelmed by the larger party they had left at the Quarry stile and were perhaps waiting for help from Marlow that never arrived. The following morning warrants were issued for the arrest of the 4 men, but Richard Smith Aka Daisy had fled, and was never bought to trial. The others were apprehended within a couple of days, and bought before the authorities at the Berkshire Summer Assizes. 

Harriet had, on arriving at her home, done the most extraordinary thing of going to bed without calling anyone to her friends and sisters aid.  This was seized on by the men's defence at the trial as evidence that Harriet did not think her sister really in danger, despite admitting hearing Patience specifically scream that she was being murdered. The lawyers suggested that the 3 Marlow couples had all intended to meet and then pair off for immoral purposes. The Cookham gang had gone after them in the spirit of causing mischief and had at most committed a minor assault. The evidence of rape was "only" based on Patience's say so they said, ignoring the collaboration of Moore, and others who saw Patience's torn clothes and distressed state. 

The reason we have covered this case in detail the because it demonstrates the difficulty women such as Patience faced when becoming a victim of sexual violence. Patience Martin must have felt on trial herself when a righteous juror at the trial stood up and asked if she was in the habit of going to a public house on a Sabbath? She replied she did so sometimes. The public houses were legally open at the time she was there. The newspapers gave Patience credit for the calm, clear and intelligent way that she gave her evidence. It was they said done in a fashion becoming such a serious crime, and they said she looked "most respectable." The men's defence were however keen to make another fact known..had not Patience given birth to an illegitimate child some time before? She "admitted" that she had. The men were not asked about their previous relations of course. 

The jury were told they could find the men guilty of assault if they did not believe all the evidence. After two hours of deliberation, the jury declared all the men guilty of their respective offences. Extraordinarily in our eyes, they were recommended to mercy by the male jury based on the perceived "loose" character of Patience. The judge does not seem particularly impressed by this request, but said he would honour it. Interestingly he did so partly because of the general lack of appetite for capital punishment. He said that despite the peculiar behaviour of sister Harriet, he had rarely seen evidence given so "conclusively". He could not think of some prisoners that more deserved to feel the full weight of the law for their act of "shameless brutality". He therefore recorded a sentence of death for all three present, but immediately commuted it to transportation for life on the condition the men were put to hard labour in a chain gang until the end of their lives. They would be "compelled to endure a life of the hardest labour upon very strict regulation."

Patience's character may have been smeared at the trial, but it was nothing compared to what came afterwards. The case stood out for its brutality and was reported in newspapers from the length and breadth of the country. The guilty men were taken to Reading gaol. From there, they wrote letters asking for further mercy. Their excuse? They were drunk. It is telling that the fact Patience had been in a public house on a Sunday was considered evidence against her, but correspondingly, the prisoners who had done the same could consider using the fact to get a lighter punishment. Somewhat strangely, the convicted men also said that a group of local unnamed farmers were behind the "malicious prosecution",  the latter party prejudiced against them. I presume this is a reference to the fact that Harding had been suspected of, but not convicted, of poaching previously. A total of 59 people from Marlow also signed a petition on the mens behalf, using the excuse of Harding's youth, and lack of previous conviction to ask for leniency. And of course they said Patience had a "depraved" character and was in fact a prostitute. This was something even the men's defence had not suggested, probably because it would also have suggested the prisoners had been or wished to be her clients. Both Patience, and Moore also signed a letter asking the judge to be merciful - while this may seem strange to us, it is not at all uncommon in similar cases in the period. They were certainly not asking for the men to go unpunished. The stated reasons for Patience and Roberts appeal is not given, but something like an awareness of the hardship dependents faced with a son or brother sentenced to life overseas, or suggestion of a general wish to rise above a situation and show Christian mercy is often given in similar situations. The judge reviewing the case upheld the convictions in entirety and refused the appeals except to grant that Harding could be merely incarcerated for life, without the added chain gang participation, in light of his youth. As was standard, the gaolers were asked to report on the prisoners conduct since arriving under their care. Harding was rated good, Bishop bad and Taylor "very bad". 

All three men were transported in the same ship, the Lady Raffles. This left for Van Diemens land in Australia on the 30th November 1840, and arrived there on the 17 March 1841. A total of 331 convicts were abroad on its departure. (They had the company of Marlow resident Charles East who was transported for 14 years - read about him here)

As for Patience, she died sadly young. She continued as a dress maker or related occupations. In 1846 she married cordwainer Anthony Savin(s) of Cookham Dean. She died just 5 years later aged only 38. I do not know what happened to her illegitimate child, the youngster does not seem to have been living with her at the time of her attack or subsequent marriage. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day,  with additional research by Charlotte Day. 

To find all mentions of a family or individual here use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. 

For other posts related to crime, women's rights and general Marlow history see the index - here

Crime and disorder in old Great Marlow here

For content about Cookham Dean see the menu here

Sources include

https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/lady-raffles/1840. Accessed May 2020

Home Office Convict Petitions, series 11, Harding et al, Reference: HO 18/31/10, National Archives Kew. 

Census 1841,1851. 

The Examiner, 2 August 1840 volume, digitised by Google. 

The Spectator, Vol 13, 1840, digitised  by Google. 

Morning Herald 21 July 1840

Bells Weekly Messenger July 1840

Bucks Gazette 4 July 1840

Berkshire Chronicle 27 June 1840

Great Marlow Strays

Marriages of Great Marlow people I have discovered by sheer coincidence while trawling through the parish registers of other places. Spellings are as they appear to me. I have done my best with old writing.

Anthony, John married 27th November 1802 at Medmenham Bucks Elizabeth Hoare of Medmenham. This could be John Anthony the carpenter.

Breach, Ann married 2nd June 1730 All Saints church Maidstone, Kent John Chambers of Sonning Berkshire.

Carter, Mary and William Phelps both of Great Marlow married March 1st 1741 Stoke Poges Bucks by licence.

Fletcher, Henry married May 11th 1676 at St Helen's Bishopsgate London Anne Seale of Bledlow Ridge, Bucks..

Hall, Robert a widower married 20th October 1814 Medmenham Bucks Rachel Thatcher of Medmenham. More on Rachel here

Harman, James married 1st January 1717 by Licence at St Paul's Cathedral London Elizabeth Rowley of St Dunstan's In The West parish, London.

Heather, Mary a widow married August 24th 1791 at St Stephen's Walbrook church in London John Benson of St Stephen's Walbrook parish.

Ingram, Margaret married 26th April 1703 Bisham Berkshire Ralph Spicer of Chipping Wycombe. The latter place is now called High Wycombe. One of their descendants also called Ralph Spicer was a lawyer in Great Marlow - read about him here

Law, Mary married Bisham Berkshire 9th November 1699 Christopher Welder "a Dutchman".

Norton, Benjamin married February 3rd 1754 at St George's Hanover Square, London Sarah Jones of Cookham, Berkshire.

Tafield? Tofield? Athaliah married at Hughenden Bucks 30th March 1814 William Cock of Bisham Berkshire. By licence. Athaliah was not uncommon as a name at this period especially in this area.

Use the Person Index to find all mentions of a person on this blog. New people are added there daily and there are currently over 3,250 individuals listed there. 

I have more of these strays, mostly from London, Kent and Sussex where my own family history research has focused. I will add to this list as I sift my notes. 

Great Marlow Stagecoach Services

  This is a follow up post to our entry on the Wyatt family who did so much to make coach travel faster for late 18th and early 19thc Marlow residents.  Their service to London, run with a series of partners and finally alone, was known as The Original and then The Wyatts coach. You can read more here.

But there were others services and this is an overview of the main other ones. 

The coaching trade boosted income for the innkeepers who provided a starting or finishing point for a journey. Coach building and maintenance for those owning their own private coach or carriage also provided work. We will mention Marlow resident Mr Lovegrove who advertised his coach painting services in 1770.  He had he said, been "regularly bred to the profession in London" and would do the job in the best and most professional manner. 

At first Marlow did not have a daily stagecoach service. In 1773 there were journeys made three times a week to London in the summer and twice weekly in winter. 

In May 1788 a new daily post coach run by Saunders, Smith and Co started running from Mr Dixon's the Lower Crown. Sundays were of course excepted. It left at 7am and returned to Marlow on the same day at 2pm. It arrived at the bustling coach interchange known as  The New White Horse Cellar Piccadilly. It's route went via Little Marlow, Wooburn and Taplow. The newspapers at this time carried advertisements for a coachman to serve this new route.  So what qualities would a coach driver need? Mr Dixon was mindful of the reputation some drivers had for being drunk in charge and reckless with both coach and horses. So his ideal candidate should be steady and sober, and must have held a similar role for some time. Experience with driving in both London and country areas was essential as was a good temper. What especially dates the ad is a requirement for the successful candidate to be free of smallpox.  

In 1790, the Lower Crown's London coach was leaving an hour earlier. It took an hour to get to Maidenhead, and 4 hours to reach London itself. Three years later, a "neat, new, elegant" London coach was run from the same Lower Crown by Minchener's [also occurs as Miltchener, this was Elizabeth of Colnbrook], later a partner of Wyatts. The first service set forth on the 8th April 1793, promising lower fares. The charge for travelling in the more expensive interior seats was 8s from Marlow to London in 1797, one shilling less if travelling from Maidenhead. There was also a special rate for small parcels at 4d. This coach went via Maidenhead (Swan Inn) to Piccadilly as before, but it also now advertised that it stopped at the New Inn, Old Bailey. It took longer to arrive in London than the previous coach, at 5 hours. But it was "safe, easy, and expeditious", at least if no highwayman were about. Sadly Minchener went bankrupt in 1806. A daily service departing from the King's Head, Old Change at 10am is also mentioned in 1793. 

Moving on to 1798 a new Marlow coach to the capital was started from Mrs Chapman's Upper Crown. This went through Maidenhead and arrived at the Bolt and Ton, Fleet Street via the inevitable New White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly. If the thought of getting up early to catch this coach was off putting and you wanted the luxury of selecting your own departure time, then the proprietors would allow you to hire out the entire coach and it would then set out when you chose. That however was an expensive option.  Around this time or a little later William Williams was running a post coach from the Lower Crown. William moved his post business to the Corporation Arms in High Wycombe in 1808, still promising to make travel as comfortable as possible for all those "pleased to honour him with their favours". 

It was not just the two Crown Inns that were coach stops. In 1819 Robert Mossington (Mossenton) had recently taken over the Greyhound Inn in Spittal Street. He was keen for everyone to know he had spent a great deal of time and effort on fitting up the premises in the most modern manner. He would also be running a new service to London, known as The Accomodation coach -  "All possible attention will be paid to safety, convenience and comfort of passengers". This took 5 hours so no real improvement had been made on earlier running times. Robert seems to have done very well at the parcel carrying part of his business, and so he also recruited the Two Brewers in St Peters Street to act as a parcel booking office. He offered a slightly later start from Marlow than his rivals at first - 8am with a return from the city at noon (later 2.30 pm) the following day. He did eventually bring his start time from Marlow back more in line with that of his rivals. The route was via Little Marlow, Maidenhead (the White Hart), Burnham and Slough to the Bull Inn, Holborn, the Belle Savage, Ludgate Hill and The Gloucester Coffee House.  Fares were 12s for a hopefully more comfortable interior seat, and 7s for an outside one, to London. He obviously was doing something right as a little over a month after starting his coach, he decided to make it a daily rather than thrice weekly service. (Sundays excepted)

WS Williams and Co obviously thought there was demand for another London service and so they launched a new post coach from The Greyhound in 1820. I believe they may have already run to London via Little Marlow, Wooburn and Taplow as they tell us in the adverts launching the new service that the coach serving these places will run unchanged bar an earlier start time.  They followed this by The Favourite in 1823  - more or less following the route and timings of Wyatt's the Original which was still going.  The Favourite went via Bisham (the Bull), Pinkneys Green (the Golden Ball), Maidenhead (White Hart), and Taplow (The Dumb Bell Inn) to Gloucester Coffee House, Piccadilly, and the Belle Sauvage, Lydgate Hill  London, daily, except Sundays. And why should you use Mr Williams service? He carried only 4 inside passengers in The Favourite, so was offering more leg room! He said his service had been timed not to interfere with existing services but this was only true on the return leg, which also took in Aldgate. Both the Favourite and The Original left Marlow at 9am (The first Williams coach left much earlier). The Favourite departed from the Greyhound, and also used The Two Brewers and The Bull Bisham as booking offices. Relations between the old and new service were naturally strained. When the two coaches met at the famous coaching stop the White Horse Cellar in London in September 1823, (before the timings had been moved further apart)  Wyatt and his rival Marlow coachman, a Mr Bonus came to blows. Wyatt accused Bonus of assaulting him, by punching and kicking but Bonus said he was provoked and warned Wyatt he would do just so if he did not leave off annoying him. Witnesses agreed with Bonus who was therefore unpunished. The trigger for the squabble was the sight by Wyatt of a lady who had formerly been a regular passenger of his was now a customer of Bonus. Wyatt said he had merely approached her calmly and asked for her to consider using his coach again. At this, he claimed Bonus had approached him and attacked. Bonus said the lady was actually already inside his coach at the time and Wyatt had been standing on the coach step conversing with her and offering to undercut Bonus. A very competitive market! The Favourite deposited it's passengers, purloined or otherwise at Marlow at 7.30pm.

Then there's the services that ran from Wycombe to Henley or Reading via Marlow. The coach and especially the numerous carrier services changed over time so this is just a summary. The Industry also known as Hone's Coach after it's operator, is probably the best known post coach. It started in 1828 and initially ran every day except Sundays. But within a few months, the service was reduced to running 3 times a week. (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, with Wednesday replacing Tuesday by 1830, left Reading at 4.45pm, later 3pm) However some services tweaked their timetable to reduce services over the winter when travel was less appealing, so the service was naturally changeable. The Industry is interesting because operator Hones & Co was a big concern in Reading and they timed their departures for Marlow and Wycombe for after the coaches from other major destinations had arrived, such as Bath, Brighton, Portsmouth and Bristol. So if your ancestor came to Marlow from further afield, this may well have been the route they took to arrive in town. In 1830 the mile stones between Marlow, Henley, and Reading were "newly painted and fitted up" so a traveller "has now a chance of knowing how far he is progressing". Those showing Marlow 1 mile must have elicited a silent cheer for the weary passengers. On the return from Henley, the coach pulled up at The Upper Crown at 7pm, but in the reverse direction passengers boarded at the Red Lion in West Street. Another service running from The Falcon, Wycombe to the White Hart Henley via the Three Tuns, Marlow was The Sociable by Thomas Hall, later known as "The Van", on Tuesdays and Fridays. The Van was afterwards ran by Lofting then Farley, from The Greyhound and the Tuns with the Halls operating a service from the Clayton Arms. Other carriers in this pre Victorian period include Thomas Wyatt's "Wagon" which went daily to London from The Horns, Chapel Street via Maidenhead and Salt Hill, Slough, and James Druce who ran to Wycombe on Fridays.

The Wonder omnibus with its beloved charismatic driver Charlie Burns went from the Crown (upper) to Maidenhead to meet the trains before the line came to Marlow. He will be the subject of his own post in the future.

Notes : In 1670 the carriers to London from Marlow came there every Tuesday, stopping at the Swanne in the Strand.  

1842 - carriers to London - Johnson, goes to the Bell, Warwick Lane, returning to Marlow on Thursday at noon. Robinson, to the The Rose, Smithfield, returning from there Tues and Fri mornings, and Wyatt's to the King's Arms, Holborn and White Bear, Piccadilly, returning Tues and Sats. (In 1807 the stop is called the Black Bear)

 Other later Victorian carriers include:

James Johnson of The Plough (to London once a week returning two days later), Charles and Tracey Wyatt (a man, Tracey was a male name then!)  from the Horns Inn Yard to The New Inn, Old Bailey and Piccadilly twice weekly, returning the next day each time, Wyatts from the Horns to Maidenhead and Slough, Richard Robinson from the Greyhound to Wycombe twice weekly. And there was a coach service from The George and Dragon once a day each to Henley and Windsor in the 1880s. And an omnibus to Windsor from the Greyhound to meet the South Western trains once a day.

Related Posts

More transport related posts can be found in the listing here

 All posts relating to an individual can be found under the A-Z person index on the top drop down menu. 

Marlow highwayman Peter Rivers here

Marlow's toll gates here

For posts related to the inns mentioned, use the Pub Related option, yes also on the top drop down menu! 

Researched and written by Kathryn Day. 

SOURCES

Extract of the annual returns of the Great Marlow and Stokenchurch Turnpike Trust. Great Britain House of Commons. 1851, Vol 18

Kent's Directory for the year 1793 (Richard & Henry Causton, 1793)

Taylor, John. The Carriers’ Cosmography. The Map of Early Modern London, Edition 6.6, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 30 Jun. 2021, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/6.6/CARR1.htm.

Reading Mercury 19 March 1770, 9 March 1773,  17 May 1780, 17 & 24  April 1788, 1 August 1789, 4 March 1793, 27 June 1796, 17 April 1797, 14 May 1798, 16 September 1811, all copies from The British Library. 

Oxford Journal 28 July 1787, 4 August 1804, 30 April 1808. As above. 

Windsor and Eton Express 05 September 1819, August 6 1820, 9 August 1823. As above. 

Berks Chronicle 6 September & 15 November 1828, 21 August 1830. As above. 

Bucks Gazette 19 February 1831, 31 March 1832, 24 October 1835 As above. 

Pigots Directory 1830, 1831,1842, 1844

Bucks Herald 3rd October 1840, As above

Bucks Chronicle and Bucks Gazette  24 November 1849

Statesman, 4 Oct 1823. 

Enrolment books, deposited with Clerk of the Peace, ref Q/RX 1835, Bucks Archives. 

Robson's London Directory 1842. 

Slaters Commercial Directory 1851

High Wycombe Directory and Handbook 1885

Crosby's Complete Pocket Gazette (B Crosby & Co, 1807, 1815)

Dutton, Allen and Co Directory and Gazetteer 1869

Kent's Directory for the Year 1793 (Richard and Henry Causton 1793)

©Marlow Ancestors